Arthur Fields

Award winning composer/lyricist, he was born in Brooklyn New York.  Artie and his family moved to Ann Arbor, then later to Dearborn when Artie was still young.  At an early age, Artie exhibited a natural talent for music.  His instrument of choice was the trumpet, and what came out of it made the grown-ups take notice.  By the age of 15, he was playing in bands in and around Detroit.  Artie's academics came just as naturally.  He fulfilled all his graduation requirements at Fordson High School two semesters early, then commuted to Detroit's famous Cass Tech High School where he continued with his honors classes.  After graduating from Fordson as Valedictorian, he enrolled at Wayne State University, as a music major, but left after two years, bored with marching up and down the football field.  The music he wanted to follow was jazz and so he did.  He toured the country, playing in bands who were magnificent (taking the stage with such notables as Stan Getz) and some who were more aspirational than accomplished.  "They played in the key of F flack" he would say.  Eventually, he formed his own be-bop group that became one of the talked about "sounds" in New York City, playing Artie's highly progressive compositions.  With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Navy and for three years fought in nearly every major Pacific battle all the way back to Japan as a member of the USS Lexington, the Blue Ghost.  His service earned him a Navy Commendation.  By the mid 1950s, he settled down in the Detroit area to stay, marrying George White Scandals dancer, Janie Ciolek.  Here, his creative mind turned to writing lyrics and music for commercials.  By 1967, his staff had grown to 25 and he bought the Alhambra Theater on Woodward Avenue where he designed the worlds first recording studio with a "floating" control room and separate rooms for superior missing isolation.  Artie was the first commercial composer to score to film, and his work won national, and international awards in such numbers that he quickly lost count, but then musically, he was always a step ahead.  He went so far one day as to record the machines at the Chevrolet factory building the cars, then orchestrated them into a mechanical symphony playing See the USA in your Chevrolet.  Over the years, Aritie worked with a number of nationally renowned singers, including Eddie Ames, Eydie Gorme, Frankie Randal and Lonnie Anderson and worked with a group of Detroit musicians and singers who where a match for the best talents in the nation.  These included the famous Motown "Funk Brothers" rhythm section.  Artie also served for a time as Orchestra Leader on the Dinah Shore Chevy Show.  If you have a copy of Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train To Georgia" take a close look at the liner notes.  It was recorded at Arite Fields Productions, with Artie as engineer.  If you visit Washington D.C. and have the privilege of hearing the National Guard Orchestra perform their anthem "I am the Guard", you'll be listening to the music of Artie Fields.  If you go to a Detroit Tiger's game and the team wins, you'll hear Detroit's most famous professional sports song, Arities, "go Get 'em Tigers".  In 1994, the national Academy of Television Arts and Sciences made Artie Fields a member of their Silver Circle, for 25 years of "significant contributions" and "dedication to excellence."  Artie served on the Southfield School Board and worked with New Detroit on Urban Development programs.  If all this weren't enough, all who knew him say that he was charming, generous, self-effacing, and according to best friend Al Rice, "One of the good guys" 

Detroit Musicians Fund/Scholarship Fund
20833 Southfield Road
Southfield, MI 48075
248-569-5400